The Weinstein Company
The Weinstein Company (TWC) is an independent American film studio founded by Bob and Harvey Weinstein in 2005 after the brothers left the then-Disney-owned Miramax Films, which they had co-founded in 1979. They retained ownership of the Dimension Films label of Miramax. History Their first releases in 2005 included the dramatic thriller Derailed (starring Jennifer Aniston and Clive Owen), the offbeat comedy-drama Transamerica (starring Felicity Huffman) the computer-animated family film Hoodwinked, the World War II-era comedy-drama Mrs. Henderson Presents (starring Judi Dench and Bob Hoskins) and the caper comedy The Matador (starring Pierce Brosnan and Greg Kinnear). In February 2006, TWC announced a distribution pact with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.MGM poised to create distribution arm MGM distributed the product domestically in theaters, while TWC will retain long-term ownership of their product. In July 2006, the Weinsteins and Robert L. Johnson announced the creation of a joint venture studio titled Our Stories Films, which will distribute African-American-oriented films.blackenterprise.com – Tracey Edmonds to Lead Our Stories Films In late August 2006, it was announced that TWC and co-investors Hubbard Media Group purchased Ovation TV, an arts-focused cable channel. In November 2006, TWC announced a three-year deal with Blockbuster Video to give the video renting company exclusive rights for rentals starting on January 1, 2007.How The Weinstein Company ruined Home Entertainment – /FILM However, under the First Sale Doctrine of United States copyright law, other rental companies are able to rent copies of the company's movies purchased at retail. The company is the co-producer, along with Miramax, of the Lifetime reality series Project Runway, which for its first five seasons aired on Bravo. On May 24, 2007, The Weinstein Company announced the launch of three new direct-to-video labels: The Miriam Collection, Kaleidoscope TWC, and Dimension Extreme.Genius Products On September 25, 2008, TWC ended its three-year distribution pact with MGM three months before the December 31 end date. This happened in part because TWC had struck a television output deal with Showtime, though not through MGM's output deal with them. During the span of their pact, TWC paid for marketing and prints, while MGM received a distribution fee for booking theaters.Weinstein Co., MGM cut short deal In 2009, TWC might have lost the rights to the movie ''Sin City 2''. The first movie cost only 40 million dollars to make and brought in almost 159 million in box office alone. Weinstein Company lawyer Bert Fields quickly denied this report saying "TWC's rights to produce sequels to Sin City remain intact as they always have been. Any suggestion to the contrary is complete hogwash."IESB Exclusive: The Weinstein Company Loses Rights to Sin City 2!'Sin City 2' and Weinstein Co.: What's going on? In June 2009, The Weinstein Company announced the hiring of a financial adviser to restructure the finances of the company. Since July, 2009, many layoffs occurred at TWC, and the release dates of some films were pushed back. On September 14, 2009, TWC terminated its stake in Genius Products, which served as TWC's home video distributor from 2006 to 2009. Genius however, had announced to exit the home video distribution business and the DVD rights that were distributed by Genius were sold to Vivendi Entertainment. TWC also struck a deal with Vivendi.Weinstein terminates stake in Genius Products-paper, uk.reuters.com In January 2010, TWC announced more layoffs at the company after the box office failure of Nine. On February 21, 2010, The Weinstein Company made a deal with Sony Pictures Home Entertainment releasing the DVDs through Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions Group.Weinstein Company Seals Sony DVD Deal, deadline.com TWC's library, consisting of 200 titles, will be sold off to Goldman Sachs and Assured Guaranty. The deal, if successful, will free the Weinsteins from debt. Bob and Harvey Weinstein attempted to buy back Miramax from Disney in 2010, but the attempt was unsuccessful. A new joint venture between Miramax and TWC has been set up, to develop sequels of films from the former studio. Sequels to Rounders, Bad Santa, and Shakespeare in Love are among the films being developed under this new deal, while sequels to Bridget Jones’s Diary, Cop Land, From Dusk till Dawn, Swingers, Clerks, Shall We Dance?, and The Amityville Horror are being billed as "potential" projects. On January 4, 2011, The Weinstein Company has agreed to acquire a 25% stake in Starz Media.Weinsteins Buy 25% Stake In Starz Media, deadline.com On February 3, 2011, the Weinsteins extracted a $75 million consolation prize from their former parent company, Disney, thus improving their filmmaking career. As a result, Disney handed over its 50% stake in Project Runaway, and reduced its share in four jointly owned films, including Scary Movie and Spy Kids, from 50% to 5%. On February 27, 2011, TWC's distributed film The King's Speech brought to the company their first Academy Award for Best Picture at the 83rd Annual Academy Awards, after their last Best Picture Oscar winner Chicago won in 2002 when Bob and Harvey Weinstein were at Miramax, controlled by then corporate owner Disney, and their previous Best Picture nominees for TWC were 2008's The Reader and 2009's Inglourious Basterds, the latter film a co-production with Universal Pictures and A Band Apart. In March 2011, the company formed a video game division named TWC Games.Dean Takahashi, VentureBeat. "The English Patient The Video Game Artsy Film Makers at The Weinstein Co Form Video Game Division." March 25, 2011.TWC Games formed a strategic consultancy with Beefy Media, a video game production company, to foster relationships with publishers and create high-quality games. Film distributor history *UK **Entertainment Film Distributors (2005–present) **Momentum Pictures (2006–present) *Canada **Alliance Films (2005–present) Weinstein films * Derailed (2005) (First release) * The Libertine (2005) (Second release) * Transamerica (2005) * Tom Yum Goong (International : The Protector) (2005) * Hoodwinked! (2005) (The studio's first animated film) * Mrs. Henderson Presents (2005) * The Matador (2005) * Miss Potter (2006) * Stormbreaker (2006) * Doogal (2006) (The studio's second animated film) * Clerks II (2006) * Wordplay (2006) * Shut Up & Sing '' (2006) * ''Border War: The Battle Over Illegal Immigration (2006) (DVD) * Lassie (2006) (DVD) (theatrically released by Samuel Goldwyn Films) * Hannibal Rising (2007) (distribution only) (produced by DDLC Dino De Laurentiis Company) * Music Within '' (2007) (co-distributed with Lionsgate, Articulus Entertainment, Quorum Entertainment and MGM) * ''TMNT (2007) (co-production with Warner Bros. and Imagi Animation Studios) * Sicko (2007, co-distributed with Lionsgate) * The Hunting Party (2007) * Thunderpants (2007) (American distribution) * Dedication (2007) * Cassandra's Dream (2007) (distribution only, produced by Wild Bunch and Virtual Studios) * La Misma Luna (2007) (co-production with Fox Searchlight Pictures, Creando Films, Fidecine and Potomac Pictures) * The Elite Squad (2008) * Rambo (2008, co-production with Lionsgate) * Diary of the Dead (2008, as Third Rail Releasing) * Boy A (2008, distribution only, produced by Cuba Pictures for Channel 4) * Zack and Miri Make a Porno (2008)Official Site for Zack and Miri Make a Porno] * The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency (TV series) (2008) * The Reader (2008) * Fanboys (2009) * Capitalism: A Love Story (2009) * Outlander (2009)http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0462465 Outlander @ IMDB] * Inglourious Basterds (2009, co production with Universal Pictures and A Band Apart) * A Single Man (2009) * Nine (2009) * Le Concert (2010) * The Tillman Story (2010) * Nowhere Boy (2010) * The Fighter (2010, international distribution) * The King's Speech (2010) * Blue Valentine (2010) * The Company Men (2011) * Shelter (2011) * Miral (2011, co-production with Pathé) * Hoodwinked 2: Hood vs. Evil (2011) studio's first animated sequel * Deadman Wonderland (2011, co-production with Walt Disney Pictures and Carolco Pictures) Dimension releases * Wolf Creek (2005) (first release) * Scary Movie 4 (2006) (second release) * Pulse (2006) * School for Scoundrels (2006) * Feast (September 2006) * Black Christmas (2006) * Grindhouse '' (2007) (also titles: ''Death Proof and Planet Terror only on DVD) * 1408 '' (2007) * ''Who's Your Caddy? (2007) * The Mist (2007) * Halloween '' (2007) * ''Rogue (2008) * The Promotion (2008) * Halloween II '' (2009) * ''Janky Promoters (2009) * The Road (2009) * Youth in Revolt (2010) * Familiar of Zero (2010) (co-production with Walt Disney Pictures and Cannon Films) * Hurricane Season (2010) * Piranha 3-D (2010) * Scream 4 (2011) Titles distributed by MGM * Lucky Number Slevin (2006) * Clerks II (2006) * School for Scoundrels (2006) * Stormbreaker (2006) * Killshot (2007) * Breaking and Entering (2006) (with Miramax Films) * Black Christmas (2006) * Bobby (2006) * Factory Girl (2006) * Miss Potter (2007) * Arthur and the Invisibles (2007) * Hannibal Rising (2007) (USA Distribution Only) (produced by DDLC Dino De Laurentiis Company) * The Ex (2007) * 1408 '' (2007) * ''Who's Your Caddy? (2007) * The Nanny Diaries (2007, co-production with FilmColony) * Halloween (2007) * The Mist (2007) * Crossing Over (2008) * Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008, co-production with Mediapro and Wild Bunch) Other films * Freddie as F.R.O.7 (1992) (DVD, TBA) (theatrically released by Miramax Family Films) * The Thief and the Cobbler (1995/2010) (DVD) (theatrically released by Miramax Family Films) * The Promise: acquired North American distribution rights, then sold them to Warner Independent Pictures * Lovewrecked: acquired the North American rights from Media 8 Entertainment and then sold them to the ABC Family Network. * Nomad: acquired North American distribution rights. * All the Boys Love Mandy Lane: acquired North American rights but shortly thereafter sold them to Senator Film. * The Forbidden Kingdom (2008) (with Lionsgate and Relativity Media) * Igor (2008) (developed by and originally intended for release by TWC, but sold their rights to co-distributor MGM) * All Good Things (2010): acquired North American and International distribution rights. The North American rights were eventually purchased back by the film's director. However, the company will still release the film internationally. Upcoming films * The Iron Lady (2011) * So Undercover (2011) * Spy Kids 4: All the Time in the World (2011) * Shanghai (2011) * The Blood Bond (2011) * The Lion of Judah (2011) * Submarine (2011) * Dirty Girl (2011) * Sarah's Key (2011) * Butter (2011) * My Week with Marilyn (2011) * Fraggle Rock (2012) International distributors Australia * Roadshow Entertainment * Sony Pictures Entertainment UK * Momentum Pictures * Entertainment Film Distributors * Pathé France * SND Weinstein books Upon leaving Disney, the Weinsteins reached an agreement to bring over Rob Weisbach, the CEO of their publishing imprint, Miramax Books, to The Weinstein Company. Weisbach would continue to manage all of Miramax Books' existing titles until they were published but would acquire all new titles for Weinstein, while Disney would acquire new titles under their Hyperion imprint.Weinstein Books Splits From Miramax | The New York Observer Judy Hottensen is currently acting president of Weinstein Books.http://www.observer.com/2008/weisbach-went-miramax-books-departed-weinstein| The New York Observer Weinstein Books published its first book, Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures, on September 4, 2007. On October 19, 2009, TWC announced a joint venture with Perseus Book Group, whereby Perseus would be responsible for marketing, editing, publishing and distribution of Weinstein Books releases. References External links * Official site Category:The Weinstein Company Category:Film production companies of the United States Category:Companies established in 2005 Category:Companies based in New York City Category:Film distributors